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GolfHiker
05-16-2010, 19:52
With summer getting near, bugs are officially upon us. I am not a big deet fan, but have given in at times. I'm heading out mid June to go thru GSMNP to Hot Springs & was just wondering about bug dope choices currently in favor. Ben's? Repel? Skin so Soft? If you have to use this stuff, what works? Thanks for any good input.

TIDE-HSV
05-16-2010, 21:45
I try to keep my wife close. Bugs find her yummy. She has to wear a protective head net, just to work in our yard. However, when she's not around, I'll use DEET. I'll put it on a bandanna, worn loosely around my neck, and, perhaps, one hanging out of a back pocket and that seems to do it. The Buzz-Off line of clothing seems to work also - if you can come to terms with wearing pyrethrin next to your skin...

Anumber1
05-16-2010, 22:03
get a pouch of bugler and start rolling

bflorac
05-16-2010, 22:29
Hiked GSMP last year in June. Only bug were gnats (or what every they are) that occasionally bite. These seem to only gather when I camp so I generally can ignore these and I don't use any bug stuff. I do wear a hat (Columbia Schooner Bank II Cachalot Hat) and a bandana (Exofficio Insect Shield Bandana )around the neck. But, just in case, I do carry 100% DEET wipes.

garlic08
05-16-2010, 22:30
I don't use DEET after my wife had respiratory and tachycardia issues following its use. I will spray Permethrin on my clothing, but just once a year at the height of the season. Choose your poison, I guess. Generally, I either cover up with lightweight clothing and a head net, or just grin and bear it. Mosquitoes and black flies don't bother me as much as they bother others.

Dogwood
05-17-2010, 01:46
For just flying biting insects like mosquitos, gnats, or mediocre black fly swarms(not Alaska or Montana biblical plague sized in Aug) I, and others who I have given it to sample(about 12 people), have had very good results with the Don't Bite Me Transdermal Patches. You slap a patch onto your bare butt and 2 hrs later and for about 24 hrs time(although the company says the patches work for 36 hrs) everyone I gave it to said it definitely brought the flying buzzing blood sucking insanity to a halt. Might be worth a try for someone not wanting to put chemicals on their skin or clothing. It's made from aloe and vitamin B1. It has worked for me and about 12 others deterring the insects I mentioned. Friendly for child use too.

Jonnycat
05-17-2010, 08:57
3M Ultrathon.

Put some in a sandwich baggie, invert baggie, smear it around. Put in your pocket.

When you need some, re-invert it and use the baggie like a glove to apply a scant amount to exposed skin (which will just be your face/neck and the back of your hands).

Put the baggie back in your pocket for the next day.

GolfHiker
05-17-2010, 08:58
Thanks to all for your good advice. I knew there were a lot of choices out there, better than just slathering on Ben's Bug Spray. First of all, I thank Tide-HSV for suggesting that his wife go with me. Do you really think she will want to do this? ;) If not, I may check out Dogwood's bare butt patch, as it seems to work & not be a lethal chemical. Keep those good ideas coming!

LIhikers
05-17-2010, 09:19
My wife has a bug repellant thet uses eucolyptus oil as the main ingrediant. I don't have it handy so I can't give youthe brand, or name. It works pretty well but when I use it I have to apply it more often because it comes off when I sweet.

TIDE-HSV
05-17-2010, 09:28
First of all, I thank Tide-HSV for suggesting that his wife go with me. Do you really think she will want to do this?

Only the bugs and I are allowed a nibble...:)

Megan1125
05-17-2010, 10:44
Definitely the 3M Ultrathon. A couple years ago it was rated #1 by Backpacker magazine and I haven't found anything to top it!

Teeah3612
05-17-2010, 10:59
I have a real problem with spraying poison on myself. I figure if it is bad for the bugs it can't be good for me. I use lemon oil that I bought at the Healthy Life Market. You have to reaply it more often, but it works. Just a few drops on your wrist and neck do the trick.

Dogwood
05-17-2010, 16:58
My wife has a bug repellant thet uses eucolyptus oil as the main ingrediant. I don't have it handy so I can't give youthe brand, or name. It works pretty well but when I use it I have to apply it more often because it comes off when I sweet.

You may be referring to Repel Lemon Eucalyptus(extract from Eucalyptus cittriodora) spray or lotion. It works well for repelling mosquitos and ticks. Supposedly, safer than some other repellants and preferred by some over DEET or Permethrin. Should go without saying but, absolutely, don't get the Repel in your eyes. This product can irritate some user's skin.

Directions say only use only twice a day, which is what some hikers will not do. If a little is good a lot is better. Let's take a bath in the stuff, as long as it stops the itching and biting.

Not advised for children under 3 yrs old. I would like to know why?

Picardin is another insect repellant sometimes preferred by some because it's deemed safer than DEET or Permethrin.

philly
05-17-2010, 17:02
REI's Jungle Juice

wormer
05-17-2010, 17:18
Cover up and avoid red clothing

Obiwan
05-17-2010, 17:48
I use any of the sprays that have 20% picaridin with good results

johnnyblisters
05-17-2010, 17:56
Eat lots of garlic, it also repels other hikers!

Roland
05-17-2010, 19:52
When I was a kid, the only bug dope I was aware of was Old Woodsman. If you ever used the stuff, you'd never forget the smell. Gawd it was nasty! You could paint yourself with creosote and not smell any worse.

But in a strange way, I kinda liked the stuff. I suppose, it's sorta like Moxie or horehound candy; unique enough to make it attractive.

These days I prefer to treat my clothing with permethrin, if anything at all. I often go without. Bugs have to eat too! :D

mudhead
05-18-2010, 07:00
You liked it because it was considered "manly" to be able to tolerate the stuff back then. What was the main ingredient- kerosene?

That was some vile stuff.

Marta
05-18-2010, 18:04
When we were living in Russia kerosene-soaked rags were recommended to us for keeping mosquitoes out of a canvas tent. I think the real secret was drinking so much vodka you could fall asleep even if there were mosquitoes on every inch of bare skin. Myself, I prefer a screened tent.

Blissful
05-18-2010, 18:14
we used Bens I tried that natural stuff and the deerflies at HF by the Potomac thought it was candy

Frolicking Dinosaurs
05-18-2010, 18:18
Along the lines of the 'Don't Bite me' patch, I've had good results from taking a 250 mg thiamine capsule every morning and eating plenty of garlic. Bugs used to love me - now they don't.

Obiwan
05-18-2010, 18:22
Eat lots of garlic, it also repels other hikers!


And (presumably) vampires!

Dogwood
05-18-2010, 18:41
You might think you're in a Hindu Shrine, Buddhist Temple, or on Hight/Ashbury Sts., but another thing that I find helps keep the flying insects away is to bring along some incense. Light some up as you're setting up camp, eating dinner as you unwind from the day's hiking adventures, and overlooking your favorite scenery. It's cheap, light wt, can get the fragrances(smells?) you desire, and it doesn't have the possible negative side effects of some of the more questionable insect repellants.

Frolicking Dinosaurs
05-18-2010, 18:47
You might think you're in a Hindu Shrine, Buddhist Temple, or on Hight/Ashbury Sts., but another thing that I find helps keep the flying insects away is to bring along some incense. Light some up as you're setting up camp, eating dinner as you unwind from the day's hiking adventures, and overlooking your favorite scenery. It's cheap, light wt, can get the fragrances(smells?) you desire, and it doesn't have the possible negative side effects of some of the more questionable insect repellants.Hmmm... wonder if the fruity scents would attract bears?

Jonnycat
05-18-2010, 19:12
another thing that I find helps keep the flying insects away is to bring along some incense.

I used one of those "mosquito coils" once, then I discovered that they only work when there is no breeze.

Gaiter
05-18-2010, 19:35
Tonic water....


Tonic water (or Indian tonic water) is a carbonated soft drink flavoured with quinine, which gives it a distinctively bitter taste.
The drink has garnered its name from the medicinal effects of this bitter flavouring. The quinine was added to the drink as a prophylactic against malaria, since it was originally intended for consumption in tropical areas of South Asia and Africa, where that disease is endemic. The mixed drink gin and tonic originated in British colonial India when the British population would mix their medicinal quinine tonic with gin to make it more palatable..

TIDE-HSV
05-19-2010, 00:31
For many years, quinine was the only treatment known to ameliorate the symptoms caused by the malaria parasite. Later, there was a synthetic analog, Quninalone (sp?). My mother had malaria her entire adult life, so I grew up watching the effects of the chills and fevers of the outbreaks. She passed away in 1979, before more effective treatments were available...

Erin
05-19-2010, 00:35
Tennessee tick weekend is this weekend.... annual volunteer work project in water and weeds.....
Last year I used 'Cutter" Lemon Eucalyptis spray and it worked very well to keep the ticks off. I had no ticks. My brother pulled off over 20. I could not find it this year. So now I have Sawyer Insect repellent for my Tennessee tick weekend this weekend. It should have a skull and cross bones on it, but I don't care since I got ehrilichiosis at this same spot in Tennessee in 2007.

sbhikes
05-19-2010, 10:14
I never go anywhere without my headnet. I also have a hat that has a curtain to protect my neck that I can use if I don't want to use the headnet. Long sleeves and pants and multiple layers and when all that fails (which it can in those biblical plagues of mosquitoes) I get out the giant can of Repel.

TIDE-HSV
05-19-2010, 13:39
I never go anywhere without my headnet. I also have a hat that has a curtain to protect my neck that I can use if I don't want to use the headnet. Long sleeves and pants and multiple layers and when all that fails (which it can in those biblical plagues of mosquitoes) I get out the giant can of Repel.

We have a friend who is extremely allergic to insect bites. The last time she went with us to the Boundary Waters, she had sewn an entire net suit - shirt, pants, hood. She had tried the B vitamin routine before a trip to Okefenokee and almost got eaten alive...

GolfHiker
05-19-2010, 14:15
This is really good stuff... from having Tide-HSV's wife to act as my surrogate stand-in, to keorosene rags & vodka, with an assortment of sprays, patches, incense & home remedies. This topic seems to be important to all of us summer hikers. I am writing all of this down, checking it out & going forward with my best protection. Thanks to all.....

Hikes in Rain
05-19-2010, 14:16
There's always the Rancid Crabtree (http://books.google.com/books?id=yOxF4KNH45EC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=rancid+crabtree+protective+crust&source=bl&ots=gjxRZ9RwMg&sig=1HGSmNtIZ8MfADz-ZV3BZfln-1k&hl=en&ei=Xin0S_7IOIOB8gbqy9H9DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=rancid%20crabtree%20protective%20crust&f=false) method. Don't wash, so you maintain the integrity of your protective crust. :D

Marta
05-19-2010, 17:08
Ah, Rancid Crabtree. I wish he would join Whiteblaze. We could all learn from the master!

(Seriously, back when he was a little lad, my son who could not be coerced, bribed, or wheedled into reading, finally got motivated to work on his skills in order to read Patrick McManus.)

Hikes in Rain
05-19-2010, 19:07
Way back when I was a little kid, just learning about the outdoors, Mr. McManus used to write for Field and Stream. I loved those short stories, related to them all, but for some reason, never noted the author for future reference.

MANY decades later, I came across one of those stories, and recognized it. The Internet had been invented then, and I've tracked down everything he's written. His Kid Camping from Aieeee! to Zip, in a first edition, is one of my prized possessions. I re-read it every few months.

Should be required reading, in my never to be humble opinion!

ki0eh
05-19-2010, 19:08
After years of sticking to the 3M Ultrathon, last year I switched to mostly using the Cutter Advanced (picaridin) - don't need to worry about melting my wicking clothes that way and it seems to work better for me (although not as long lasting).

jod
05-19-2010, 21:48
http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/documents/FACT/DODInsectRepellentSystemJustheFacts-June2007.pdf U.S Army tells the soldiers to use 33% deet and permethrin on clothes.

I use deet for the biting bugs in the Whites. Works for me.